Can It Be True?

I fear writing this post because I fear I might jinx myself but I am going to do it against my better judgement. A week or so ago we decided it was finally time to potty train Whitaker. He nailed it right away (we probably waited too long to do it). He had a few accidents in our house for the first couple of days, which was totally to be expected. However, we still were putting a diaper on him at night. Then, on Tuesday night Julie and Matt were babysitting the kids and Whitaker refused to let Julie put a diaper on him. Julie said she tried but gave up after he repeatedly yelled at her. I was fully prepared to wake up in the middle of the night to a wet bed. I was shocked and didn't. SO the next night I didn't put a diaper on him and just like before no accidents in the middle of the night. Then we did it again and still no accidents.

Does this mean we will never have to buy diapers again?!?! Does this mean after 4 and half years of changing diapers I won't have to do it again. Hallelujah! Rejoice!

PS - As a side note and not to compare but out of my two kids, Whitaker was by far the easiest to toilet train. It is rather shocking because being a boy and rather stubborn I would have assumed he would have been wearing diapers forever. But nope in a matter of a few days, he is toilet trained. I do think that his desire to be a "big boy" has worked in our favor on this one. He never wants to be called a baby by anyone and after we told him only babies wear diapers, he moved on to underwear, which is what big boys wear. 

Homework

I know I have mentioned before but just in case you aren't following along I am taking a photography class in an attempt to learn a new skill in 2014. I had class 4 of 5 this week and I am loving it. I love getting out at night to learn something new, focus on something for myself, and then having "homework." 

Here are a few photos to detail what we have been up to and what we are working on in "class." This week we are working on shutter speed so I was trying to get the kids to do lots of jumping so that I could practice freezing something in action. Also as you can tell from some of the pictures yesterday brought a Spring-like day. We spent at least an hour on the back deck soaking up the sun and warmth. It was pretty spectacular and is making me very itchy for nicer weather. 

It was intentional to have the kids out of focus. 

Trying to get Mae to jump so I can get her in action.  I like how her hair looks like it is bouncing. 

Either Mae can't jump very high or I took the shot at the wrong time.  

Her hair looks like she is jumping, although I failed at showing her feet. 

Mae agreed to throw a ball over the fence so I could get it frozen in action. 

Freezing the ball in action. It is one ugly shot but I managed to get it done. 

Whit jumping. 

More of Whit jumping. 

Playing with light. Getting Whitaker and his shadow. I accidentally got some of mine in as well but I do like how I got Mae's feet in. 

This photo isn't showing you anything except the HUGE scratch on Whit's back that was courtesy of Mae. I swear those two can be as thick as thieves, then sworn enemies in one second. The thing that drives me the most crazy is that when they aren't getting along I tell them to go to their rooms or separate. Do they? Nope.  They decide to stay next to each other and annoy each other more, which then leads to a huge nasty scratch down your back. 

This is a photo of nothing, except I am always struck when I see our license plate that we used to live in Washington State. 

Still trying to get jumping shots. 

Nature. 

Whit fell asleep in the car while picking Mae up from a play date today and I just thought he looked so cute. Saince my camera was in my car, I decided to snap a few photos while stopped at a traffic light. You also will notice that he got a hair cut today. He looks so handsome. 

Rewind: Last Week (MORE Snow and Valentine's)

I had a computer glitch last week so I haven't properly given a recap of all the events last week. Thankfully my computer has been fixed and thank goodness, I bought Apple Care so it didn't cost me a thing to fix it. Rewind on last week, Heather and I hosted a cookie decorating/valentine making party for some of our girlfriends last Wednesday. It was such a good time. I never knew that when I came back last July, I would have reconnected, met, and become friends with such a great group of ladies. Then we had yet ANOTHER snow storm, which started on the Wednesday night of the party and ended up closing school on Thursday and Friday. Since then Mae has had off of school on Monday for President's Day, then there was more snow on Tuesday, which caused a 2 hour delay for Alexandria Public Schools, which means NO school for Mae. 

Mae FINALLY went to school today. Whitaker went with Heather because I had a dentist appointment. The hour of sitting in the chair with no kid chitter chatter and getting my teeth scraped was pretty glorious. 

Melanie and Diane

Heather and Laura

Joanna's cookies were a work of art. 

Heather and Karen

Christen, Diane, and Jennifer

This was the plate of cookies I made to eat during the snow storm.

The kids playing with the neighbor kids. 

Vaiden and Mae

Cassidy, Mae, and Vaiden. Mae being a goofball. 

Lady vs. Woman

The other night when we were out to dinner for Valentine's Day a "woman" was wearing a Valentine's Day heart headband. Here is the conversation that happened to Mae and I about this person.

Me: Mae, do you see that lady over there with that beautiful Valentine's headband? 
Mae: Mom that is not a lady. 
Me: What do you mean Mae? 
Mae: That is a woman. 
Me: Oh. What is the difference between a woman and a lady? 
Mae: A lady is a mother and a woman is a grandmother. 
Me: That is a very good distinction of the word Mae. 

As we were leaving the restaurant Mae went up to the woman to tell her she liked her headband. The woman ended up giving it to her, which had just been given to her as a gift because the woman was so taken with how charming she was. 

These Are Really Happening

Here is Mae folding towels on her own initiative yesterday. For a 4 year old she didn't do that bad of a job and it was nice to have some help while folding. . 

Here is Whit using the potty. He looks like he is pooping but don't worry he isn't, he is just giving a funny face. Whit has been really good about pooping on the potty for the last couple of months and I have probably only changed a handful of number 2 diapers. You might wonder why he isn't 100 percent toilet trained? There is only one  answer...I am lazy and didn't feel like doing it. Until…yesterday when I had to change a nasty diaper. There and then I declared no more diapers (except for naps and nighttime). The sun has set on day 2 and so far there has been no accident. I don't know if that means that I waited way too long to toilet train him or the next few days are going to result in many accidents. Regardless, we are staying our course and are going diaper free. 

Just Because

Sorry I have been pretty silent this week. I have been trying to soak up my little kids faces, their scents, their little voices, and their pure innocence. Two tragedies have struck the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Community this week and it has me grasping for love and life and trying to make sense of any of it, which there is none. Even though I am not able to make sense of the two recent deaths, I am able to make sense of a few things. I love my family with all my heart and soul. My children are the most amazing and beautiful creatures. And I thank God everyday for all the abundance he has given me.  

These pictures are from Wednesday afternoon. I was watching John for Heather and she brought Luke and Will over to pick him up. Luke asked if I had anything special to eat. I had made sugar cookies the day before and froze them to bring into Mae's class to decorate for Valentine's Day. Anyways Luke  asked if he could decorate some. Normally I would say no because I really didn't want my kids consuming copious amounts of sugar on a random Wednesday and I didn't want a big mess from 5 kids decorating cookies. But for some reason I said, "Sure thing!" If there is anything that this last week has taught me is that you better live in the moment. 

Here are photos of all the kids decorating and then eating their cookies JUST BECAUSE.